'Project Runway': Innovation or stagnation

Share this:

The season of “Project Runway” has clearly not lived up to seasons past. Did tonight get any better?

Looking at the designers we are left with, do you expect it to? The challenge tonight was the weakest one yet. Basically each designer was given a previous look they had created on the show and told to create a companion piece. It’s of note that Logan is the only one who doesn’t have a look that won a competition, so guess who is going home tonight? The only other thing of note that seemed to occur was the Althea is apparently taking b!tch lessons from Irinia. They sat in a separate room, hunched over takeout food and talking about how much they disliked everyone. Logan drew Althea’s ire since he put zippers on a collar. It’s ironic to note that by the end of the episode, Irinia is equally snide about Althea’s sweater matching her own too closely.

Carol Hannah – It’s a cute little cocktail dress. I think the lighting robbed it of what I suspect was actually much nicer color and it has a youthful feel to it. The judges gush over the pockets to an absurd degree, as if no one has ever put pockets on a cocktail dress before. Meanwhile they completely ignore the detail of the bodice. Seriously? Are we looking at the same dress?

Althea – The pants seemed like a horrible idea on the design room floor. And in truth, only a size 2 or smaller could get away with wearing them. But they are surprisingly cute. The top, even with criss-crossing straps, isn’t much more than a tank top. And the oversized, formless sweater is startlingly similar to what I saw all over the mall just two weeks ago. Then again, the pants are so forward thinking, they then need the more mundane to make them palatable.

Logan – it’s the punk dress of my dreams. If this were the year 1992. Alas, it’s 2009 and I am no longer a teenager and there is no way on this earth that I would go near this dress. It is an explosion of zippers and not even in a truly edgy way. They just feel basted on randomly. Jeffrey used them far more creatively a couple of seasons ago. This is just a boring black mess.

Irinia – I have to agree with Nina. The tube dress looks cheap; I don’t have how much brocade was glued onto it. And the formless camel sweater with the comically massive collar and huge swing sleeves seem completely incongruous to the dress. Of course, none of that stop her from putting her nose in the air and implying that Althea copied her.

Gordana – I’ve got a soft spot for Gordana, though I am not sure why. All the same, the look she created tonight bore no resemblance to her winning dress created from an old wedding gown. This look is a 1980’s suit, complete with the long and rounded back that almost looks like a tail. Also, the collar doesn’t seem to know if it wants to be stiffly upright or floppy down. The inside out darts on the sides are an attempt at edge, but with the rest of the look, it feels half hearted.

Christopher – It’s not bad, as long as you don’t look at it all at once. And as long as the model isn’t walking. When she walks, the petals trimming the black overdress bouncing strangely off her knees, while the white bottom half seems to constantly be threatening to table itself around her ankles and trip her. Additionally, the volume of the top of the dress overpowers the bottom. This creates the effect of making the bottom look like it’s so heavy that it is pulling the top down.

Althea wins this one, clearly, because at least her look was comparable to her previous winning design. She also clearly used the most actual innovation, where everyone else just…didn’t. It was Logan who was furthest off the mark, and it was that fact that got him sent home.